Our son Elliot was 21 years old at the time of his passing. He died as the result of a massive heart attack. We will never know why this happened and I suppose it doesn’t matter. We miss him every day. He was a student in Minneapolis when he died. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew he wanted to work with people and he had a gift for numbers. He was considering accounting or perhaps becoming a math teacher. He was a gifted student in high school, taking many advanced placement courses. He played trombone in his high school band. He was a state athlete in diving taking 16th place and 8th place in his junior and senior years. We loved to watch him dive. He was so confident, powerful, and daring on the board.

Elliot was totally a social person. He made friends easily and had dozens of them. Everyone knew Elliot and he was kind to all. He had a great sense of humor that we deeply miss. His smile was infectious. You couldn’t help but like him. He enjoyed playing cards, Frisbee golfing, hunting, fishing , playing video games, and being with friends. He was the life of every party.

Elliot had registered as a donor when he received his driver’s license. About one month prior to his death, he spoke about being a donor and casually stated, “If I die, take everything!”. We have no regrets in making this decision as we know it would make him happy to know he was able to help other people. It brings us comfort to know that he lives on through others.